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Ex-Box: Death of Microsoft's Xbox

game-spectrum.com — I think it's safe to say that the Xbox has officially passed away (it's no longer being manufactured). It had a decent run, and gave Sony's PlayStation 2 a run for its money. However, instead of letting it fade away into the grave of lost consoles, let's look back at the good times.

Bury
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  • DBiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+52I was stand-offish until I saw KotOR.

    Still one of the best games I've ever played.
    • primehifi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+53My fathers xbox, as well as mine, get good usage.. only in XBMC though.
    • timo1023, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Uh, I still use my XBMC every day. Why in fact, yesterday I had a party and we watched a movie and listened to music through it.

      Also, XBMC looks amazing with the xTV skin (AppleTV replica skin).
      http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=583541&st=0

      pic:
      http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/_Chief/screenshot003.jpg
    • strikerK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+33modded xboxes will never die.
    • xxNIRVANAxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10So true. As soon as I modded mine, I've been maxing my Rogers bandwidth every month downloading new toys for the system.

      Also, MC360 is just too sexy.
    • sexycommando, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Jade Empire, Kotor I and II were awesome if you are an RPG fan. Too bad they came out so late in Xbox's life.
    • darthtrevino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Absolutely! KOTOR was the reason I bought an Xbox (late in its lifecycle), and I had some great times with Jade Empire as well. I'm super psyched about Mass Effect!
    • womfalcs7, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3This shows the greatness of the PS2. While its competitor that came out a year later (and sold nearly 100 million units LESS) is being stopped, the PS2 is selling more than all other consoles, even the new generation.
    • Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2maybe thats because the ps3 hasnt been released over here in the rest of the world

      and if you notice, microsoft has waited till it is easy to get a 360 before stopping it, you think sony will still be pumping out ps2's 2 years from now?
    • Shando, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I actually bought my first xbox last week on eBay. I modded it and now I have XBMC and a ***** of emulators on it. I ordered a bigger hard drive last night which should be here in a few days, so I can load all my movies and TV shows and some games onto it. Is the xbox dead? ***** no.
  • Ignignokt01, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4Other than the ***** of people still playing Halo 2, yeah its pretty much dead. The 360 is where its at.
    • Reezy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+37I beg to differ, checkout this video to see what a modded (no modchip needed) Xbox is capable of
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-2I8-XA8rM

      -Play burned games
      -Emulators; nes,snes,sega,n64,playstation,Mame
      -lightgun support for Emus and games
      -Online play for emus
      -Free Xbox online play via Xkai Link
      -Damn Small Linux
      -Web browsing

      Python scripts; Youtube and other video sites streaming on TV

      Wifi streaming from PC... HD uprgrades, DVD rom upgrades

      ETC ETC ETC
  • opiv421, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10Mine won't die until NFL 2k5 is made backwards compatible.
    • Crass22, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3Time to upgrade my man.
    • iPirate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20@crass22

      Your man doesn't quite meet your standards?
  • mrfreeziexp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23The xbox was a great console. I will always remember the LAN parties I had with my friends. ahhhh, those were the days.


    • mrtibbs309, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19RIP massive original controller. ye will be missed.
    • Krymore, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I loved the original giant controller. It makes me sad that all the girly small handed little wanna be japanese kids had to cry that their puny fingers couldn't reach the buttons.
    • DrunKao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Krymore, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Next to the 360 pad, the original Xbox controller is my favorite. It kicked so much ass. Halo 1 plus original Xbox controller was the best. My best to worse: 360, original xbox, gamecube, dreamcast, n64, every other controller ever made, Dual Shock....
  • danmac8, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8its legacy has not yet been realized
    • webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2--edit
      WTH? I didn't click reply to this one...
  • RyanChappell, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4$360s are to expensive for me! I will probally buy every used xbox I can find for a decent price and create a media network.
    • br1ucf, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5anyone selling an xbox is clueless of its potential, for a $100 you can have a very capable media player for your living room to stream video from your pc, a linux box, a network storage, a game system (lastly)...
  • hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -23/+13>It ... gave Sony's PlayStation 2 a run for its money.
    Which is why it is being discontinued and the PS2 outsold all other consoles this past Christmas season?
    • jcaino, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14the phrase 'gave it a good run for its money' does not mean that it beat it, doesn't mean it was better than it.

      it just means it gave it some good competition.

      you damn fanboys get touchy.
    • drathosX3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14... Is a 'touché' in order...?
    • Krymore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Ps2 had no competition for a good year and no one thought any more consoles would be coming out in the near future...
    • StateofMind09, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The 360 is giving the PS2 a run for its money...the Xbox not so much.

      It was a good console, just lacked the games IMO. A tiny bit ahead of its time as well.
  • Snakedal337, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Kinda weird, the PS1 was manfactured for 10 years..

    Or perhaps the PS1 was the weird one?
    • Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm guessing the percentage of people who buy Xbox 1s purely to hack them is increasing with time, so MS's profits per Xbox decrease with time, unlike the PS1 where people still buy games (not least because hacking it takes more than a memory card - it requires a boot CD).
  • BlkGuyAtThePrty, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Mine died in Texas. =(
    I'm having a hard time deciding between modding another one of building a Myth-HTPC.
    XBMC FTW!!
    • BlkGuyAtThePrty, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0or*
    • ScottMaximus1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you want HD content, I'd say use a Myth/GBPVR/MCE box

      but for regular SD, the Xbox is a good low-cost solution

      I use an shuttle with XP and GBPVR loaded on it. as well as some custom VB.net apps and hacks that I wrote to make controlling with the remote easier
  • dhulser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5http://duggmirror.com
    http://duggmirror.com/gaming_news/Ex_Box_Death_of_Microsoft_s_Xbox
  • LiquidTim, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Bully never came out for the Xbox
    • timfitz99, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Right... that, and the fact that the article was badly written and didn't mention more than a handful of good games or the various modding options caused me to BURY this for inaccuracy.
  • tpaine, on 10/12/2007, -24/+13this is a joke right? Gave the PS2 a run for it's money??? They sold 24 million units (just ahead of the gamecube's 22 million units) while the ps2 sold 115 million .... not exactly a "run for it's money". All figures pulled from Wikipedia.
    • gwolf, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12Show a little respect for the dead will ya.

      It was a great console for it's time.
    • webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10The Xbox was technically the superior machine... I found it had better graphics on a game-for-game comparison. That could be down to PAL though...
    • reddevil3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Those figures are accurate. The PS2 is the best selling console of all time, an outstanding feat considering the fact that the PS1 also sold more than 100m.

      RIP to the Xbox though. I sold mine to get a Wii (I don't have enough money what can I say), but it was definitely an excellent console. Great online play, KoTOR, Halo 2, Fable, Splinter Cell, etc. etc.
    • sexycommando, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3"The Xbox was technically the superior machine"

      So is the PS3. I guess you are rooting for PS3 now? Technical superiority does not a great game machine make. I'm not saying Xbox wasn't a great gaming machine, but that would be the wrong reason to argue it, plus it didn't come close to PS2 in awesome 3rd party games. I did eventually buy an Xbox to make an XBMC, and to play Jade Empire, and the Halo and KOTOR series.
  • ASSASSYN, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8STEEL-BATTALLION for life.
  • Lunarshadow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I was a huge anti-XBox fanboy when it first came out. I stayed anti-XBox until the first time I played Halo. The console had so many good games, I just couldn't stay away. KOTOR, Fable, Jade Empire, etc all kept me hooked. I first thought it was destined to fail, now it's one of my favourites. Goodnight XBox, you had an amazing run.
    • hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8We seem to be twins, but I still use my Xbox everyday for XBMC.
  • Javitud, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15The XBox is the new Dreamcast. It's legacy will live because of its ability to easily play pirate games, run homebrew applications, and emulate games on it.
  • goodbeershow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6XBMC has been running on my soft modded xbox for years. Still very sweet. Oh it plays games too!
  • Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -8/+8As others have pointed out, it hardly gave the ps2 a run for its money. The article blurb is flamebait at best, and at worst just plain ignorant fanboyism.
    The original xbox was meant as a means to get a foot in the door for its successor, nothing more.
    • Krymore, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Xbox brought Live to gaming. What did Ps2 do? Hell, what did anything in the Playstation brand do for gaming? The only thing Ps2 will be remembered for is sales and 3rd party titles that eventually went multiplat. The Xbox was a great system with some amazing exclusive games. To deny that for the sake of supporting what's popular is stupid.
  • pcorajr, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14XBOX was far from giving PS2 a run for its money, the fact that ps2 is selling and xbox is not proves this........ I had a xbox.. yes it was a good platform but it was not all glamor.
  • Merrick178, on 10/12/2007, -14/+9PS2 def. won the last won, But I think it's safe to say 360 has this one in the bag.
  • tonyhartfield, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13my xbox gets more use than my wii, all of that is XBMC tho ;)
  • Gunblade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I remember trading in my N64 and a ton of games. Getting away with the xbox free and spending 200 hundred in credit on controllers, games and a ps2 game.

    The xbox's greatest past time with me. Was the original halo. We would all load up play 8v8 and swear our little 15 year old hearts out at each other. Halo was so much fun....it just plain was like goldeneye was for the N64.

    I will never get rid of it : ) seeing as my 360 doesn't play Guilty Gear XX and I have such great memories.
  • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It's funny to think that everyone and their grandma predicted it to be a huge flop, then it ran out of the doors and even beat Nintendo in terms of sales (and it's even more impressive when you realize that the Gamecube was well-received in all three big markets, while the Xbox still managed to sell more even with only 2 of the three big markets actually liking it).

    Oh, and who remembers that original prototype? I have to say it was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen (the giant X).
  • FullMetalMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Xbox: Don't you, Forget about me. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't you, Forget about me!
  • jalexhall1989, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I think now is the time to buy an xbox, for those of you out there that can't afford a brand new 600$ console (which includes me) and 60$+ games and 40$+ controllers and xbox goes on ebay for about 100$ for a new one and games are 10$ a piece if that! My friend got SSX3 and CS for his xbox for less than 15$. And how low people will go on ebay just to get rid of their own console is insane, i've seen an xbox + 20 games go for 200$. Plus my xbox can play more games than the Wii can, God i love my mario kart.
    • flr666, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2don't forget craigslist. In my city at least there are always used ones going up for sale - often pre-modded and fully loaded.
  • h4mx0r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I don't really believe that the x-box gave the ps2 a run for it's money. It came in too late and recieved much criticism upon first impressions (besides the reception of halo).

    However, we can see the successor to the xbox (the 360) is definately stomping the new generation of ps3s. What happens next, only time will tell. Will history repeat itself? Who knows?
  • FireStalker, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9xbox is dead LONG LIVE THE XBOX!

    im going to say wii and 360 are going to thrash PS3
    • jodokast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7That's been known for a while now...
  • Vouksh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5wha'choo talkin' 'bout willis?

    My XBox is still in heavy use. In fact, my nephew is playing it right now.

    And you can't help but love XBMC. I love being able to watch movies that are sitting on my home server on my couch, instead of in my computer chair.
  • johnnevermind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4A modded XBOX is still a godsend especially if you have younger siblings or kids. Pop the iso's onto the hard drive and don't worry about those grubby little fingers scratching up your 360 discs.
  • allholy1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5xbox hasn't died in my eyes yet... I just played it yesterday and had a blast.
  • generalnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ive been a xbox fan for quite some time. I dont really play many games anymore but... i stream EVERYTHING. My most anticipated development would be that Joost.com somehow be ported to the xbox. What that will mean is this: Joost right now has a interface that allows people to P2P TV. Just imagin TV over the internet and on your xbox! i currently stream DL.TV eps and diggnation when they are released and would stream more had i known of more sites like this. If anyone does .. please let me know
  • krakkinem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+73 best things the X-Box had going for it:

    1. sheer horsepower
    2. Halo
    3. hack-ability

    I still use mine for XBMC every day, and occasionally games, too.
  • wonderboy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5My xbox died because I had it in my backpack, slipped on some ice, and landed on my back. Just thought you should know.
  • Juntistik, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Ever since I got my xbox my ps2 has been collecting dust. Iong live XBMC!
  • totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3"It had a decent run, and gave Sony's PlayStation 2 a run for its money."

    It had a very decent run, and had some breakthrough games like Halo and KOTOR. But lets be serious here, it at no time gave the PS2 a run for its money.
    The PS2 soundly trounced both the XBox and Gamecube in its day, and is actually still outselling all the next gen consoles on a month to month basis.
    Nostalgia is great, but it doesn't have to be inaccurate.
    • Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Nostalgia is great, and it's not completely inaccurate in this case.

      While the PS2 certainly FAR outsold the Xbox the Xbox whupped the PS2s ass in online play, multiplayer, graphical goodness, and raw horsepower...and that's in stock trim. With the addition of modding, hard or soft, it makes the best media center box I can think of.

      So while the PS2 won the sales war, the XBox was no "also ran". In many ways it DID give the PS2 a run for it's money, and in other ways it completely DESTROYED the PS2.
  • n3xg3n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it will never truly die as long as they can become cluster computer nodes... i need to buy a ton to make a huge Beowulf network...
  • inSaneELF, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Things could have been a lot different had the Xbox launched the same time as the PS2.
  • xxNIRVANAxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Softmods and BlackCats-Games have given me new hope
  • imikedaman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ninja Gaiden Black didn't get any love? For shame...
  • sciencebase, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Never mind ex-box, watch out for ex-microscope. coming soon
  • gism82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the author incorrectly states that Bully came out for the xbox. This was actually canned. Oh well, decent read.
  • inSaneELF, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ imikedaman

    Doh! Totally forgot about that one. Hah, added it! Thanks.
  • PRlME, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i think MS should give us like i don't know free game making kits or a legal way to turn it into a MediaPlayer. Instead of me trowing them away. I got 2 in my attic. -=)
  • schavira, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2So long to the system that helped ruin gaming, along with multi-platforming and unoriginal FPSs.
  • EvanVolm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Glad you guys liked my article(well, not everyone did). Just to clear things up, I'm not saying the Xbox is/was better than the PS2. Hell, I won't even state it was better than the GameCube because we all have our opinions. And just because I said "It had a decent run, and gave Sony's PlayStation 2 a run for its money", I'm not implying that the Xbox and PS2 were close in sales. But compared to the other game systems out at the time, it was it's closest competitor throughout the years it was....well...alive.

    Also, I'm saying the Xbox has passed away for two reasons: 1. Microsoft is no long manufacturing them. 2. There will be no more games for it published by Microsoft. Only third-party companies will supply games. Ofcourse it will live on in the modded world. Things are endless when you mod them.

    It was funny to see someone compare it to the Dreamcast, because they are actually making a new Dreamcast game sometime soon. I doubt MS will do this, however.

    Again, thanks to those you said kind words. And those who disagreed, I assure you I am not a Xbox fanboy. I'm merely paying my respects to a console that provided such enjoyment for me and my friends.
  • omyard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love the original Xbox. I own more games for it then I have any other console.

    Hell, yesterday I bought 3 games for it from Gamestop; Fallout, Manhunt and The Suffering. For me the Xbox will never die.
  • ukrdigerati, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Unfortunately for the Xbox, it was easily hackable, thus throwing off some of the numbers for sales on the video game side, although I'm sure it wasn't such a swing that it killed the Xbox prematurely. Microsoft has to move on, it's time to focus on what it set out to do in 2001. Gates knew they were gonna lose money, he didn't care. Gotta spend money to make money.

    Fortunately for us, the Xbox was easily hackable and thus will live on in infamy with techies everywhere. I personally own 4, all hooked up to TV's around the house, PLUS all the ones I've modded for friends and family, the 6 yr old nephew loves it.

    The Xbox was a major success in the fact that it was intended as a stepping stone for Microsoft to get into the gaming industry, an industry that'll make or break companies. As we will see with the demise of Sony and their stubborn-headed proprietary bullcrap. From Betamax to UMD, now Blu-Ray, Sony will live and die by the PS3. Sadly for Sony, no one wants to program/develop for the PS3, where-as the 360 is said to be easier to program for than a PC! Developers are leaving Sony with no regrets and taking their operations to the 360... FINAL FANTASY FOR 360 anyone?!

    PREDICTION: It's not pure horsepower that sells a console, its the titles, software, versatility and ingenuity that does. Sony might have the strongest console this go-round but as we can see already it won't help. The Wii, which was Nintendo's idea before the Gamecube but couldn't be released because it was ahead of it's time, will dominate with the 360 and it's HD-DVD player. And Sony will slowly die, becoming only a hardware manufacturer which will lead to it's slow agonizing death. It's not hardware that keeps a company afloat...

    I'm just excited to see what their working on now for 2011.
  • greenmountain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My son was an ardent, borderline militant PS2 fan.
    Halo 2 on line is what won my son over, along with a couple of his friends, and a buddy of mine looking to replace a dead PS2. No fault of Sony, he stomped it when the bride pissed him off.
    I ended up really liking Medal of Honor,Syberia,Mercenaries, and silent hill on the X.
    Game advantage PS2 then. Crazy number of games.
    But the thing that gives the edge to Xbox in the end was XBMC.
    XBMC is I think, comparable to anything as far as software, it is just incredibly great work, if you are curious, just do it.
    XBMC streaming scripts of for example, crankygeeks and DLTV in h264 are remarkable, the picture on my 50 is comparable to cable. On 64MB of RAM with, what is it, a 700 something? Great work. I have never had it not play a file, streaming off the PC with ccxgui, or off the HDD. The DVD is fussier, so I don't bother with it.
    Got to plug the ccxgui for streaming,a tiny, simple beautiful solution.
    An aspect missing from this brief story, on top of XBMC, is Microsoft was given no chance to pull this off.
    No chance. But they hung in there, committed bazillions, and have contributed another fine product. Nobody predicted the current situation, at least not sober, or outside of Redmond, or both.
    Still hope we get XBMC360. I have dreamed MS would just Hire the XBMC guys and say, Just do That.

    Surprising really, nobody has cracked into the 360 at all, except for the DVD trick.Basically, that box is locked. This will likely be an advantage for the coming set top box war.
    The old Hackbox/XBMC was really fun, with many firsts. Brought it to a whole new level. It is still a fine, useful reliable tool for that reason.

    Really looking forward to the halo3 beta. Comin right up...

    later.
  • m00nstone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Wow. How did this guy miss the entire mod-scene phase of the xbox's life?? Media center that puts the PS3 and 360 to shame... Emulators leave the Wii virtual console in the dust...

    The legend of the xbox1 is alive and well. I don't think this guy has a clue.
  • EvanVolm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I didn't want to run the risk of being banned from Microsoft if I ever did get Live. I only just recently thought about modding it, but nothing extreme. Maybe a few extra lights. But this only adds to my point of the whole article. Even those without Live or modded Xbox's, it was(and still is, to me atleast) a blast to play.
  • jakk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Did anyone else notice the screenshot from the unreleased StarCraft: Ghost just above the Xbox picture?
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